IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


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1.4    II  1.6 


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Photographi 

Sciences 

Corporatjon 


^^V^"^ 

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<^.<* 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)873-4S03 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


m 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  m;  ;  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


D 


□ 


□ 


□ 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      i    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommag^e 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicul^e 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

□    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 

n 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
ere  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


□    Bound  with  othei  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombie  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  da  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pagas  Manches  ajoutees 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  dtait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6td  filmdes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires: 


L'lnstitut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  4t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m6thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 

pn^Coloured  pages/ 
L_ll    Pages  de  couleur 


□ 


Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pellicul6es 


I     T/Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
I IJ    Pages  ddcolordes,  tachetdes  ou  piqudes 

D 


Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d^tach^es 


[""V^Showthrough/ 
I  ^    Transparence 

I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


D 


Quality  indgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  matdriel  supplementaire 


to 


PC 

of 
fil 


Oi 
bi 
th 
•i( 
ot 
fir 
si< 
or 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6X6  film^es  d  nouveau  de  fagon  i 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


Th 
•h 
Til 
wl 

M( 
dif 
en 
be 
rig 
ret 
m< 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmd  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu6  ci-dessous. 

1CX  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


y 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


tails 
i  du 
odifier 
une 
mage 


Th«  copy  fllmad  h«r«  has  bMn  r«produc«d  thanks 
to  tho  gsnorosity  of: 

Library  Diviiion 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 

Yho  imagss  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacifications. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  \^:th  a  printad  or  iliustratad  impras- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  beginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illustratad  imprassion. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  "-^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  Y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  P«ft  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grice  A  la 
gAnirosit*  da: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 

Las  images  suivantas  ont  At*  raproduites  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattetA  de  rexemplaira  filmA.  et  en 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplairas  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimie  sont  filmAs  en  commen^ant 
par  la  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
darnlAre  paga  qui  comporta  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplairas 
originaux  sont  filmte  en  commen^ant  par  la 
pramiAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  darniAre  page  qui  comporte  unB  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboies  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
derniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  -^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ".  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmte  A  des  tsux  de  reduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  geand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich*.  il  est  film*  A  partir 
da  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imagas  nAcessaira.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


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iktelfirte 


FIFTY-SECOND   VOLUME. 

Editors.      JOHN  A.  GBAT,  PubUsJisr. 


LOUIS  GAYLORD  CLARK, ) 
Dr.  JAMES  0.  NOYES,        ) 


Arrangements  have  been  made  with  the  following  popular  authors  for 
contributions  to  ♦^he  Fifty-Second  volume  of  the  Knickerbocker,  comprising,  we 
believe,  a  greati  amount  and  variety  of  talent  than  have  ever  been  enlisted  for 
any  magazine  in  the  country  : 


FITZ  GREENE  HALLECK, 
Dk.  OLIVER  \V.  HOLMES, 
DONALD  G.  MITCHELL, 
Hon.  G.  p.  R.  JAMES, 
PARK  BENJAMIN, 
Rev.  F.  W.  SHELTON, 
Dr.  J.  W.  PALMER, 
E.  L.  GODKIN, 
R.  H.  STODDARD, 
JOHN  PHCENIX, 
A.  WILDER, 
Mus.  E.  KiDY  BLUNT, 


Dr.  J.  W.  FRANCIS, 
GULIAN  C.  VERPLANCK, 
H.  T.  TUCKERMAN, 
GEORGE  W.  CURTIS, 
JOHN  G.  SAXE, 
ALFRED  B.  STREET, 
Prof.  EDWARD  NORTH, 
MANTON  M.  MARBLE, 
FITZ  JAMES  O'BRIEN, 
T.  B.  ALDRP.  H, 
JAMES  W.  MORRIS, 
Miss  CAROLINE  CHESEBRO. 


Every  Is    mber  of  the  present  volume  will  contain  a  steel-plate  engraving. 


Unprecedented    Inducements   for  New  Subscribers. 

To  every  new  $3  subscriber,  beginning  July,  1858,  will  be  sent,  as  a  premium, 

Two  Feet  of  the  ATLANTIC  TCLEURAPU  SIBNAKINE  CABLE, 

with  the  COPYRIGHT  FAC-SIMILE  CERTIFICATES  of  Cyrus  W.  Field  and  Tiffany  &  Co.,  as 
to  its  genuineness. 

Or  any  person  forwarding  10  new  $3  subscriptions,  ($30.)  will  be  presented  with  a  deed  giving 
a  perfect  title  to  10  acres  of  land  in  Texas,  Kansas,  Iow.\,  or  Wisconsin,  and  the  Magazines 
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In  the  same  proportion,  deeds  for  20,  40,  80,  or  160  acres,  will  bo  sent  as  premiums  for  20,  40, 
80,  or  160  $3  subscriptions — an  acre  for  each  copy  subscribed  for. 

Tiie  Knickerbockkr  lands,  including  25,000  acres  already  purchased  in  various  counties  in 
Texas,  are  selected  as  especially  desirable  for  cultivation,  and  likely  to  improve  rapidly  in  value  on 
account  of  their  favorable  location.  While  the  Magazine  furnishes  the  best  origmal  reading  by  the 
best  American  authors,  it  ofl'era  the  means  whereby  any  person  may,  by  a  small  effort,  become  a 
landholder,  or  impart  this  gratification  to  another;  and  at  least  one  poor  man  in  every  village  and 
town  in  tho  country  bo  enabled  to  procure  a  farm  and  a  home  for  his  tamily  in  the  West. 

All  communications  connected  with  the  Business  Department  of  the  Knickerbocker 
should  be  addressed  to  JOHN  A.  GRAY,  16  and  18  Jacob  St.  All  Articlen  designed  for 
publication — all  Literary  Inquiries — all  New  Books  and  Publications  should  be  addressed 
to  either  of  the  Editors. 

TERMS— Single  copies,  one  year,  $3 ;  Two  copies,  H ;  Three  copies,  $6. 

SPECIMEN  U)PIKS  of  the  KNICKEKBOCKER  tor  warded  ou  receipt  of  25  cents  in  money 
or  postage-stampH.  AGENTS  ARE  WANTED  m  every  part  of  the  country.  BACK  NUMBERS 
and  bound  volumeH  ou  baud. 

JOHN  A.  GRAT,  Publisher  and  Printer, 

16  and  18  Jaoob  Bt.,  oor.  Frankfort  St.,  New-York 

Liberal  Terms  to  PnUishcrs,  Postmastcrs»  Ministers,  and  Teachert. 


jy/ 


BOOKS  AND  PERIODICALS. 


OARXTOnr  «  PORTSZl, 


Agents  of  the  Methodist  Book  Concern.  200  Mulberry  Street,  New  York, 
would  call  attention  to  a  few  of  their  numerous  publications. 

THE  SUNDAY  SCHQOL  ADVOCATE 

Is  a  beantifully  illustrated  child's  paper,  edited  by  the  distinguished  friend  of  children,  the 
veritable  Krancis  Forre.steb,  and  is  issupd  semi-monthly.  The  fifteenth  volume  coin- 
mtnced  in  October.  We  now  print  180,000  copies,  and  thousands  of  new  subscribers  art- 
bein^  added  to  the  list  every  week.  Price  25  cents  single,  and  twenty  cents  per  copy  when 
ten  or  more  copies  are  ordered  to  one  address.  Little  reader,  if  you  wan,  to  take  juf^t  the 
paper  that  will  please  and  profit  you,  send  us  26  cents  and  you  shall  have  it.  Or  ii  you 
will  get  nine  of  your  little  friends  to  join  you,  and  send  us  $2,  we  shall  send  you  ten  copies. 

CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE  AND  JOURNAL. 

This  is  the  cheapest   and  widest  circulated  religious  weekly  published  in  this  country 
Price  $1.50  per  year.    It  is  the  best  medium  for  advertising  valuable  articles. 

QUARTERLY  REVIEW. 

This  is  edited  by  Dr.  Whedon,  and  is  just  the  work  for  Ministers  and  other  Literary  gen- 
tlemen.    It  has  the  largest  circulation  of  any  work  of  the  kind.     Price  $2.00  per  year. 

SABBATH  SCHOOL  BOOKS. 

Of  these  we  have  1,200  bound  volumes,  besides  multitudes  of  question  books,  hymn  books, 
picture  books,  catechiums,  cards,  and  tracts,  adapted  to  children  of  all  ranks  and  ages,  and 
we  Jire  adding  to  the  number  monthly.  We  are  happy  to  say  they  are  being  ordered  and 
prized  by  schools  of  all  deno  iiinations. 

Then  we  have  a  large  li  *  of  other  works,  beautifully  illustrated,  for  gift  books  for 
children  and  youth,  which  ar    ;^qual  to  any  in  the  land,  such  as 

HARRY  BUDD Price  $0  75 

ILI.US TRATKD  OLIO 70 

SIX  STIOl'S  TO  HONOR 65 

MINISTERING  CHILDREN 90 

PICTORIAL  CATECHISM 70 

CHILD'S  SABUATH-DA Y  BOOK 25 


POOR  NELLY Price  SO  28 

PICTORIAL  GATHERINGS 66 

HERE  AND  THERE 16 

HISTORICAL  SERIES,  10  vols 2  50 

HENRY' S  BIRTH-DAY 85 


To  these  we  may  add  the  popular  volumes  entitled, 


PILGRIM'S  PROGRESS Price  $0  75 

PA'iTl  OF  LIFE 50 

MANLY  CHARACTER 40 

BRIDAL  GREETINGS 30 

CHART  OF  LIFE 60 

OBJECT  OF  LIFE 75 


YOUNG  MAN'S  COUNSELOR..  Price  $0  55 

YOUNG  LADIES'  COUNSELOR 55 

THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT 40 

YOUNG  MAN  ADVISED 76 

FRANK  HARLEY 20 

SELECTIONS  FROSi  BRITISH  POETS  .  1  00 


HIBBARD  ON  THE  PSALMS, 

Giving  the  time  when,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  each  Psalm  is  written,  is  n  new 
and  splendid  work  for  Preachers.  Teachers,  and  for  rpadin.T  in  family  worsliip.     Pr  ce  .S2. 

We  have  BIBLES  also.  Royal  Octavo  and  Impnrial  Quarto,  in  diO'tMent  stylos  of  binding, 
ranging  in  prices  from  fH  to  S.'iO  per  copy.  Besides,  we  have  a  larg<'  list  of  Miscellaneous 
Works  of  various  sizes  and  costs,  on  moral  and  religious  subjects,  \Yhich  only  need  to  be 
known  to  be  appreciated. 

Cataloja^nes  will  be  sent,  gratuitously,  to  all  who  order,  and  on  receiving 
the  retail  price  of  any  of  our  books,  we  will  forward  said  book  free  of 
charge.  Orders  sent  to  us  as  above,  or  to  J.  P.  Mtigoo,  No.  5  Cornhill, 
Boston  ;  or  to  J.  L.  Read,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  ;  or  to  IT.  IT.  Matteson,  Seneca 
street,  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  ;  or  Swormstodt  &  Poe,  Cincinnati,  or  any  other 
Methodist  Booksellers,  will  receive  prompt  attention. 


.H 


THE    GREATEST   BIOCtkAPBY    OP    THE    AGE. 


NOW    READY: 

THE   LIFE  OF   THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

BY    HENRY    S.    RANDALL.    L.L.D. 

In  Three  Voliuncs  Octavo. 

Tills  work  contains  upward  of  2,000  page.",  is  printed  on  fine  paper,  and  handsomely  bound  in 
^ariou3  Btyles.  It  is  Illustrated  by  several  Engravings  on  Steel,  and  numerous  fac-aimiles;  among 
the  former  are  two  fine  Portraits  of  Jefpersox.  The  fac-similes  embrace,  among  others,  the  original 
draft  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  Jefferson's  own  hand-writing. 

This  is,  in  every  sense,  an  authorized  work ;  it  was  undertaken  under  the  approbation  of  his 
family,  and  with  an  unreserved  access  to  all  the  private  papers  of  Jefferson  in  their  possession ;  and 
it  has  received  the  benefit  of  their  recollections  and  opinions  at  every  step. 

The  work  contains  the  expressions  of  Jefferson  on  every  great  public  question  which  arose  from 
his  advent  to  public  life  to  his  death— a  period  of  about  sixty  years,  and  embracing  the  whole  form- 
ing period  of  the  Republic,  It  contains  Jefferson's  heretofore  unpublished  family  correspondence ; 
selections  from  the  finest  published  letters,  state  papers,  etc. 


SO  28 

.  65 

.  16 

.2  50 

.  35 

$0  55 

.  55 

.  40 

.  75 

.  20 

.1  00 

OPINIONS   OF   THE   FBE8S. 

"  No  other  Life  of  Jefferson  ever  published — probably  none  that  ever  will  bo  published— can 
bear  any  comparison  to  this  in  thoroughness,  fullness  of  incident,  and  conscientious  fidelity." — K  Y. 
Tribune. 

"  At  length  the  public  have  a  Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson  that  is  not  only  fiiscinating,  and  there- 
fore sure  to  be  popular,  but  one  that  will  stand  the  essential  historic  test— thnt  of  accuracy  and 
truthfalnet-s.  So  faithful  is  the  p(  rtraiture  that  Jefferson  is  made  to  draw  of  himself  that  his  nature, 
his  very  soul,  is  delinc  atcd  with  a  distinctness  not  unlike  that  in  which  Johusou  stands  out  in  the 
pages  of  Boswell." — Boiton  Post. 

"  Mr.  Randall  has  added  very  largely  to  the  stock  of  the  world's  information  about  Jefferson; 
he  has  had  access  to  sources  hiiheito  unexplored,  and  has  done  more  than  was  ever  done  by  any 
one  bcfoie  him  to  illustrate  the  personality  of  that  great  statesman." — N.  Y.  Evening  Fast. 

"  Out  of  the  tempting  richness  of  his  materials,  the  able  and  clear-siglittd  author  has  con- 
structed a  book  at  cnce  niof-t  entertaining  and  instructive— one  that  should  be  studied  by  every 
patriot  of  the  land."' — Richmond  Enquires: 

"  It  will  take  place  among  the  choicest  classics  of  American  literature,  and  be  consulted  by 
every  future  historiau  of  this  country." — Philadelphia  Evening  Post. 

"We  like  it  because  it  neither  conceals,  palliates,  exaggemtes  nor  distorts,  but  approaches,  in 
every  instance,  and  in  every  particular,  the  career  of  the  noble  character  who.se  opinions  have  done 
so  much  to  shiipe  the  domestic  and  foreign  policy  of  the  nation  ho  contributed  so  greatly  to  call  into 
existence." — N.  0.  True  Delta. 

This  work  will  be  sold  exclusively  by  subscription  at  the  low  price  of  $7.50— handsomely 
bound  in  cloth. 

Experienced  Canvassing  Agents  wanted  in  ail  parts  of  the  country,  to  obiain  subscribers  for 
thiB  work.    Applicants  should  state  what  counties  they  would  like  to  canvass. 

Specimen  copies  will  be  sent  by  mail,  pre-paid,  to  any  address,  on  reoeipt  of  the  price. 
For  full  particulars  (tddresf 

DEBET  &  JACKSON,  Publishers, 

V:  110  Nassan  St.  N«w¥ork. 


iu;^y42 


THE     NEW    BOOKS. 


—  ••^^ 


JUST     PUBLISHED. 
THE  STORY  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH,  and  History  of  the  Atlantic  Cable  ; 

by  CIIAnLES  F.  BRIGOS  &  AUGUSTUS  MAVEUICK.  A  full  and  authentic  account  of  that  great  undertaking 
abundnntlr  und  bouutifully  lUustrutcd,  with  nimieroua  wood  cuti,  steel  engravings,  diagrams,  and  a  superb  fold- 
ing colored  map,  which  presents  in  a  clear  and  Intelligible  manner  a  plan  of  the  Submarine  Telegraph,  together 
with  the  ruliitivo  positions  of  Kurope  und  America,  nearly  every  telegraph  line  In  both  countries,  and  Is,  of  Itself, 
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Vol.    LII. 


OCTOBER,     1858. 


No.    4. 


F    B    A    S    E    R 


RIVER. 


Califoknia  and  Australia  owe  their  existence  as  populous  States 
to  the  gold  in  their  rivers  and  rocks.  British  Columbia  owes  to 
the  same  cause  the  sudden  growth  of  its  population  from  a  few 
hundreds  to  many  thousands.  Events  Hke  these,  wliich  have  oc- 
curred within  a  boy's  remembrance,  are  nothing  new  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  Cupidity,  the  lust  for  gold,  the  desire  for  great 
wealth  with  little  laboi',  have  both  peopled  and  discovered  States 
Not  to  ])as3  beyond  the  history  of  our  own  continent,  the  bravery 
and  daring  of  the  old  Spanish  adventurers  were  inspired  by  the 
same  desire.  With  the  visions  of  abundance  which  Ponce  de 
Leon  saw,  as  the  grt  vcs  of  Florida  rose  before  him  in  the  west, 
on  that  Easter  Sunday,  Tradition  and  Poetry  have  mingled  some 
visions  of  resurrection,  and  pictured  the  aged  Spaniard  searcliing 
after  a  secret  fountain  of  youth,  m  which  to  bathe  and  draw  the 
forces  of  a  fresh  life.  But  it  Avas  '  the  wealth  of  Ind,'  conquest, 
and  treasure  which  drew  the  long  line  of  adventurers  who  suc- 
ceeded him  —  Vasquez  de  Ayllon,  Gomez,  Pamphilo  de  Narvaez, 
De  Soto,  descending  upon  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  De  Cabrillo  and 
his  pilot,  Ferrelo,  coasting  the  Pacific  shore.  Even  with  the  purer 
purposes  of  the  Plymouth,  Maryland,  and  Virginian  colonists  were 
mingled  some  baser  instincts.  But  in  the  grand  result,  all  these 
moving  impulses,  of  however  base  an  origin,  whether  in  the  Span- 
iard, the  Frenchman,  or  the  Englishman,  have  been  overrtiled  in 
a  more  beneficent  disposition  of  events ;  and  out  of  the  perplexing 
and  difficult  problem  of  mingled  good  and  evil  arose,  in  due  time, 
the  clear  solution  —  a  new  world. 

A  course  of  events,  in  some  sort  like  these,  though  on  a  smaller 
scale,  has  been  the  history  of  Australia  and  California.  It  requires 
nothing  of  prophetic  ken,  and  Uttle  of  sagacity,  to  foretell  the 
same  result  in  British  Columbia ;  and  if  the  discoveries  of  gold  in 
the  Fraser  River  region  are  judged  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  series 

VOL.  iji.  22 


works  by  mail, 
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na2 


Fmfter  Rircr. 


[October, 


of  events  ot'  even  f^reatcr  slg'.lHcancc  aiul  importiuico  tlian  any 
series  wliich  iticludf  the  history  of  our  own  lirst  Paeilie  State,  or 
tluit  of  (Jreat  JJritain's  island  continent,  such  a  judjjjnient  is  cU-arly 
eoniiK'Hcd,  by  a  <'uo  consideration  of  the  gcof'raphical  character 
and  i>()sition,  and  the  ^)olitical  rehitions  of  the  colony  in  which 
those  discoveries  have  been  made,  and  is  in  no  respect  inflamed  by 
the  fever  which  possessed  the  Californians  for  a  brief  season,  nor 
even  by  tlie  belief  that  the  t;old-bearing  regions  of  IJritish  Ame- 
rica will  so  nuicli  aa  approacli  those  of  tho  United  States,  iu  rich- 
ness or  extent. 

liritish  Columbia,  which  inclndes  tho  Frasor  River  region,  may 
be  roughly  described  as  that  portion  of  BritioU  America  west  of 
the  llocky  IVEountaina,  and  between  latitudes  49°  and  55°  north, 
and  including  Queen  Cha.'otte's  and  all  other  adjacent  islands, 
excepting  Vancouver's.  Little  was  ever  knoMn  of  Eraser  Itiver, 
whi(!h,  with  its  tributaries,  is  tho  largest  river  of  the  colony,  till 
1793,  when  it  was  discovered  and  reported  to  tho  British  Govern- 
ment by  Alexander  McKenzie,  Captain  Simon  Fraser,  an  em- 
ploye of  tho  Hudson's  Bay  Com])any,  traced  its  course  for  six  hun- 
dred miles,  in  the  year  1812 :  and  from  him  the  river  has  taken  its 
name.  He  committed  suicide  twenty  years  ago  in  San-Francisco  ; 
and  when  excavations  wore  making  for  new  streets  a  few  years 
since,  in  a  j)Iaeo  atlerward  called  Commercial-street,  tho  old  man's 
coffin  was  by  chance  exhumed. 

In  1855,  discoveries  of  gold  wore  made  near  Fort  Colville,  which 
is  a  few  miles  south  of  tho  international  line,  on  a  branch  of  tho 
Columbia  River  and  in  Washington  Territory.  Tho  Indian  diffi- 
culties in  that  quarter,  then  and  since,  have  prevented  an  extensive 
working  of  them,  or  a  careful  estimate  of  their  value.  When 
these  difficulties  had  partially  ceased,  however,  some  persons  who 
knew  the  richness  of  the  mines,  tried  to  reach  them  by  tho  way 
of  Frasor  River  and  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  trail  from  Fort 
Langley  to  Fort  Colville.  The  current  nnnors  are,  that  it  was 
during  this  ascent  of  Fraser  River,  on  the  way  to  tho  mines  in 
Washington  Territory,  that  the  discoveries  of  gold  in  its  vicinity 
were  made.  Douglas,  the  Governor  of  Vancouver's  Island,  cora- 
mimicated  the  fact  to  the  Government  in  1856,  and  speaks  of  the 
discoveries  as  having  been  made  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Colum- 
bia, in  British  Territory.* 

♦  TuR  Hudson's  Buy  Company  offured  protection  against  the  Indians  to  persons  going  np  by  way 
of  Fraser  filver,  and  tne  United  States  gave  none  on  any  of  the  routes  through  Washington  Ter- 
ritory. Therefore,  these  miners  preferred  the  northern  route,  nnd  when  gold  was  discovered  there 
In  apparent  abundance,  a  rush  of  emigration  of  course  ensued.  Col.  Stkptob  was  on  his  way  to 
protect  tho  miners  at  Fort  Colville.  Ills  defeat  Is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Good  faith  with  the 
Indians  would  have  sieved  it  all;  saved,  too,  the  long,  bloody,  and  expensive  Indian  war  which 
that  defeat  Is  Initiating.  Contrary  to  established  usage  and  to  natural  right,  tho  United  States 
have  assumed  to  grant  absolutely  the  lan<l3  of  the  Indians  In  those  two  territories,  without  previous 
liurchuse  from  them.  They  are  driven  hither  and  thither  by  white  s-'ttlers  until  they  have  lltilo 
means  of  support,  and  at  length  the  treaties  negotiated  by  authorized  agents  of  the  government,  In 
which  some  small  patches  of  their  own  territory  are  secured  to  them,  are  either  rejected,  or  passed 
over  in  silence  and  forgotten.  Five  treaties  with  those  Indians  alone  remained  unacted  upon 
when  the  last  Congress  adjourned.  Who  can  blame  them  for  distrusting  the  good  faith  of  our 
government  or  their  agents  in  making  treaties  at  all  ?  Extensive  preparations  bad  been  made  on 
the  Columbia  Hirer  for  a  road  to  the  Colville  mines,  from  Portland,  the  Dalles,  and  Fort  Walla- 


Fmser  liivcr. 


333 


A  Scotchiuivn  named  Adiuns,  iin  old  California  minor,  and  a 
party  of  lliroo  ..ailors,  arc  sau?  to  have  been  tlio  only  vvliite  per- 
sons at  the  mines  during  the  last  winter.  Early  in  the  spring,  the 
San-Francisco  papers  began  to  publish  rumors  of  remarkable  suc- 
cesses in  surface-diggings  on  this  remote  and  almost  unknown  river. 
The  rumors  grew ;  a  few  old  miners  hanging  about  San-Francisco, 
and  a  hundred  or  two  from  Oregon  and  Washington  Territories, 
who  had  exiterience  but  no  ca  /ital,  made  their  way  tliither,  and 
found  very  rich  surface-diggings.  Their  success  reached  the  cars 
of  others,  who,  like  them,  had  experieiuso,  but  no  capital  to  build 
the  machines  without  whicli  mining  is  unprotitable,  now  that  the 
surface-diggings  are  removed,  in  California.  I'resently  the  (srowd 
of  emigrants  began  to  swell  to  larger  numbers  ;  a  line  of  steamers 
to  Victoria,  the  capital  of  Vancouver's  Island,  was  started,  other 
lines  were  speedily  added,  and  then  every  available  ship  or  boat, 
new,  or  cast  aside  as  too  poor  for  other  lines,  was  chartered  for 
the  same  purpose.  Emigrants  from  all  the  towns  and  counties  in 
California  came  pouring  down  to  San-Fran  els'"*  by  himdreds  and 
thousands;  p'-'^j'.orty  fell,  and  labor  rose  in  valuf  ;  San-Francisco 
alone  profited,  and  all  other  places  in  California  s\iftered  seriously ; 
and  still  the  emigration  went  on,  each  week  <iouoling  the  number 
of  the  week  before.  From  April  first  to  June  twenty-first, 
over  fifteen  thousand  people  left  Calitornia;  up  to  July  fifth, 
t\v  ( .'  ty-five  thousand  had  left,  each  at  an  average  expense  of  two  hun- 
dred dollars  a  head.  During  this  brief  period,  ten  steanun-s,  making 
the  round  trip  betweea  San-Francisco  and  Victoria  in  ten  days,  had 
been  plying  back  and  forth  at  their  best  speed,  taking  live  hun- 
dred passengers  and  full  freights  np,  with  only  thirty  passengers 
and  no  freight  down.  Clipper-ships,  and  ships  that  were  not  clip- 
per-built, in  scores,  were  crowded  alike  —  the  Custora-IIouse 
sometimes  clearing  seven  in  a  day.  Many  of  the  steamers  and 
vessels  went  up  with  men  huddled  together  like  sheep  —  so  full 
that  all  could  not  sit  or  lie  down  together,  and  had  to  take  turns 
at  the  feeding-tables  and  at  the  soft  six-feet-by-two  bed  of  pine-plank 
on  deck.  All  this  went  on  for  months,  the  California  papers,  es- 
pecially those  of  the  interior,  meanwhile  decrying  the  value  of  the 
new  diggings,  and  describing  the  country  as  cold,  barren,  and  in- 
hospitable, and  the  persons  who  went  as  poor  deluded  fools. 
But  the  mania  possessed  all  classes.  Nothing  else  was  discussed 
in  the  prints,  nothing  else  talked  of  on  the  street ;  all  the  merchants 
labelled  their  goods  'for  Fraser  River:'  there  were  Eraser  River 
clothes  and  Eraser  River  hats,  Fraser  River  shovels  and  crowbars, 
Fraser  River  tents  and  provisions,  Fraser  River  clocks,  watches, 
and  fish-lines,  and  Fraser  River  bedsteads,  literature,  and  soda- 
water.  Nothing  was  salable  except  it  was  labelled  'Eraser  River.' 
Late  in  July,  the  reaction  came,  and  the  tide  turned ;  but  not 


f 

■Sl 


Walla.  Who  can  wonder  that,  seeing  an  engineering  varty  mnklai;  a  road  thron$;h  the  heart  of 
their  territory,  these  IndianB  concluded  they  were  to  De  cheated  out  of  their  lauds,  and  driven 
away  as  their  fathers  had  been  before  them  1 


334 


Fraser  River. 


[October, 


until  California  had  been  drained  of  half  a  hundred  thousand  of 
its  population. 

Victoria,  Port  Townsend,  Whatcome,  Sehome,  and  all  the  other 
ports  in  the  vicinity  of  Fraser  River,  felt  the  extraordinary  im- 
pulse of  this  emigration.  Lots  in  Victoria  and  Esquimault  went  up 
to  fabulous  prices  faster  than  those  of  Sacramento  had  gone  down. 
Excepting  the  gold  dust,  Mexican  dollars,  and  the  gambling,  San- 
Francisco  in  1849  was  reproduced  on  Vancouver's  Island. 

Up  to  the  time  of  Avriting,  the  emigration  from  the  Atlantic 
States  has  not  been  very  large,  though  it  is  rapidly  increasing. 
The  last  few  California  steamers  have  gone  out  crowded  to  over- 
flowing, and  the  tickets,  suffered  to  get  into  the  hands  of  specu- 
lators, have  doubled  and  trebled  upon  the  usual  price.  Com- 
])anies  for  Fraser  River  are  forming  in  all  the  large  seaport  and 
inland  cities,  and  in  many  of  the  smaller  towns.  Every  commer- 
cial paper  has  its  advertisements  of  Fraser  River  ventures. 

St.  Louis  has  sent  out  several  companies  over-land  to  the  new 
mines ;  Philadelphia  and  Chicago,  likewise  ;  and  St.  Paul,  in  Mm- 
nesota,  while  doing  the  same  thing,  is  urging  the  importance  of  a 
Xorthern  Pacific  Railroad,  and  threatening  to  help  the  British 
build  one  through  the  valley  of  the  Saskatchewan,  unless  the  needs 
of  the  North-west  are  fairly  considered,  as  they  notoriously  have 
not  been  hitherto,  in  the  determination  of  its  eastern  terminus. 

The  approach  to  the  gold  regions  from  the  Pacific  is  through 
the  Straits  of  Juan  de  Fuca,  to  the  north  of  which  lies  Vancou- 
ver's Island,  and  to  the  south  Washington  Territory.  The  southern 
shore  of  the  Straits,  which  are  named  after  an  ancient  mariner  who 
visited  these  seas  in  advance  of  Captain  Cook,  is  in  latitude  48", 
one  degree  south  of  the  international  boundary.  The  entrance  of 
the  Straits  is  twelve  miles  across.  At  the  south-eastern  part  of 
Vancouver's  Island  they  are  near  twenty  miles  wide.  These  dis- 
tances, however,  seem  smaller  from  the  high,  bold  character  of  the 
hills  or  mountains  on  either  side.  About  one  hundred  miles  from 
the  Pacific,  on  the  inside  of  Vancouver's  Island,  and  the  north 
side  of  the  Straits,  is  Victoria,  the  seat  of  government.  Nearly 
the  same  distance  from  the  Pacific,  on  the  opposite  side,  in  Wash- 
ington Territory,  is  Port  ToAvnsend,  the  port  of  entry  for  the 
Puget  Sound  district,  and  the  recent  unsuccessful  rival  of  Victoria 
for  the  honors  of  the  metropoUs  of  the  region. 

Both  places  are  equally  near  to  Fraser  River  and  Bellingham 
Bay,  the  latter  distant  about  fifty-five  miles.  The  Gulf  of  Georgia 
separates  Vancouver's  Island  from  the  mainland  on  the  west. 
Iiito  this  Gulf  Fraser  River  empties,  a  few  miles  north  of  latitude 
49'^,  the  international  boundary,  and  fifty  miles  from  Bellingham 
Bay.  For  a  few  miles  from  its  mouth,  its  course  is  nearly  east  and 
west,  and  for  the  remaming  part,  it  deflects  very  considerably  to 
the  north,  taking  its  rise  in  the  western  slope  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain range.  One  of  its  principal  tributaries,  flov.ing  in  from  the 
south,  is  Thompson's  River,  where  also  gold  is  said  to  exist. 


I 

i 


1858.] 


Fra^er  liiver. 


335 


From  Garry  Point,  the  north  headland  of  the  mouth  of  Frascr 
River,  to  Fort  Langley,  it  is  thirty  miles.  Here  the  river  averages 
half-a-raile  in  width,  and  is  navigable  for  a  ship  of  the  line  even 
for  fifty  miles.  The  main  difficulty  in  passing  the  channel,  is  from 
some  sand-heads,  which  lie  about  its  mouth,  to  the  mainland,  a  dis- 
tance of  about  seveji  miles.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  steamer 
'  Beaver '  has  made  an  annual  voyage  from  Victoria  to  Fort  Lang- 
ley  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  recently  the  '  Otter '  has  visited 
that  station  quarterly.  Fort  Langley  will  always  be  the  head  of 
navigation  for  vessels  of  any  size.  From  Fort  Langley  to  Fort 
Hope  the  distance  is  sixty  miles.  This  part  of  the  river  is  navi- 
gated by  steam-boats  of  light  draught.  Rapids  are  frequent,  but 
the  water  is  deep.  One  rapid  about  twenty  miles  below  Fort 
Hope,  is  especially  difficult  of  passage.  On  either  side  are  moun- 
tains and  hills,  some  so  high  that  the  tops  are  covored  with  snow, 
and  many  of  them  as  rugged  as  the  Adirondack.  Timber  abounds 
in  the  greatest  profusion.  The  spurs  of  the  mountains  touch  the 
river,  and  green  intervales  are  between.  The  boats  cut  for  fire- 
♦vood  the  large  trees  of  pitoh-pine  which  skirt  the  shore.  Fort 
Hope,  ninety  mUes  from  the  mouth  of  Fraser  River,  is  as  high  up 
as  steam-boats  go,  though  it  may  be  navigable  a  few  miles  farther. 
About  ten  miles  above  Fort  Hope  is  a  place  called  Boulder  Point, 
<)pi)Osite  which  is  one  of  the  worst  ra[)ids  in  the  river.  Canoes 
make  their  way  up  Avith  difficulty.  Fort  Yale  is  fourteen  miles 
above  Fort  Hope,  and  between  the  two,  it  is  hardly  possible  to 
propel  a  canoe  up-stream  without-  the  assistance  of  a  line  from  shore. 
Two  miles  above  Fort  Yale  is  the  Devil's  Gap,  the  beginning  of  a 
long  canon.  The  walls  are  more  than  two  hundred  feet  in  height, 
and  the  Avater  rushes  through  its  narrow  and  broken  passage 
with  terrific  force.  The  pass  around  it,  called  Douglass  Portage, 
is  ten  miles  long.  The  water  is  said  to  rise  in  the  Canon  at  times 
from  forty  to  fitly  feet.  At  very  low  stages,  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company  get  their  goods  through  to  Fort  Thompson,  though  not 
without  the  greatest  difficulty,  by  frequent  portages,  and  by  hauling 
the  boat  from  the  shore.  From  Fort  Yale  to  the  mouth  of  Thomp- 
son's River  the  distance  is  one  hundred  and  ten  miles ;  to  Big  Fall 
is  seventy-five  miles  farther.  Beyond  Big  Fall,  small  canoes  only 
can  be  used.  The  principal  mining-ground  is  between  Fort  Yale 
and  Big  Fall,  though  it  is  continually  extendmg  with  the  explora- 
tion of  the  tributary  rivers.* 

Not  to  weary  the  reader  w'th  details,  wo  may  add,  that  the  dif- 
ficulties of  the  river-route  are  in  a  great  degree  shared  by  all  the 


•  Frm.m  San-Frnnclsco  to  Portlnnil,  O.  T.,  tho  fijro  hy  steamer  hiw  been  fifteen  to  twenty-flvo 
dollars'  tvom  Portland  to  tho  Dalles  by  steamboat,  twelve  dolUrs.  A.t  the  Da'.les  horses  can  be 
ohtalnc  1  for  from  thirty  to  sixty  dullars,  iViitn  which  point  to  the  mines  the  cost  of  travel  Is  about 
the  Shniv)  as  land-travel  any  where  else  in  tho  western  territorl' <i.  From  San-Francisco  to  Vic- 
toria, the  fare  by  steamer  is  from  thirty  to  forty  dollars ;  froii;  Victoria  to  Fort  Hope,  by  the  '  Sur- 
prise' Of  '  i-oa-Bird'  steam-boat,  tho  fare  is  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  dollars.  Many  miners  have 
built  thoir  own  canoes  at  Victoria.  Beyond  this  point  llie  e.xpeiiso  of  i  ravel  can  not  easily  be  cal- 
culatotl.  By  any  route  it  is  clear,  however,  thiit  not  less  than  from  two  hundred  to  tvru  hundred 
a;id  fllXj  dollars  cash  will  pay  the  way  for  one  person  from  8aa-Franc!aoo  to  tho  mlaea. 


836 


Fraser  JRiver. 


[October, 


routes  starting  from  Bellingham  Bay  or  Victoria.  The  land-routo 
through  Oregon  Territory  has  many  advantages.  The  distance  from 
Portland  to  the  Dalles,  by  steam-boat,  is  about  one  hundred  miles ; 
fare,  eleven  dollars.  Here  horses  can  be  purchased,  and  the  neces- 
sary equipments.  From  the  Dalles,  the  road  strikes  out  into  the  open 
country,  skirting  the  eastern  base  of  the  cascades  to  Fort  O'Kana- 
gan,  crossing  Columbia  River  at  Priest's  Rapids,  thence  up  the 
O'Kanagan  River  to  the  Sammilkimo  River,  then  along  Lake 
O'Kanagan  to  its  head,  and  thence  north-east  to  Shuswap  Lake, 
Avhich  supplies  one  of  the  tributaries  of  Thompson's  River.  The  dis- 
tance from  the  Dalles  by  this  route  is  three  hundred  and  thirty  miles. 
Another  route,  by  the  way  of  Walla-Wall",  lengthens  the  distance 
forty  miles.  Or,  again,  the  water-route  by  the  Columbia  may  be 
taken  as  far  as  Fort  Colville.  If  the  statement  be  a  true  one,  it  is 
a  great  argument  for  this  route,  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Comjjany, 
though  having  forts  all  along  Fraser  River,  have  for  years  shipped 
their  goods  by  way  of  Fort  Vancouver,  the  Dalles,  and  Columbia 
River,  to  Fort  Colville,  and  through  the  mining  country. 

At  the  very  threshold  of  the  inquiry  as  to  the  richness  of  the 
gold-fields  and  their  extent,  we  are  staggered  by  the  most 
conflicting  accounts.  The  California  papers  teem  with  letters 
from  special  and  transient  correspondents,  from  miners  and 
the  friends  of  miners,  and  after  sifting  the  grain  of  fact  out  of 
bushels  of  imaginative  chafl',  there  still  remain  singular  contradic- 
tions in  the  testimony  of  apparently  equally  well-informed  sources. 

One  writer  pronounces  the  whole  Fraser  River  excitement  a 
grand  humbug,  first  started  l)y  real-estate  owners  in  Victoria ; 
another  swears  that  he  has  handled  twenty-seven  pounds  of  gold, 
the  product  of  a  few  weeks'  labor.  To-day  we  are  told  of  a  man 
who  otiiers  eighteen  dollars  an  ounce  for  Fraser  River  gold,  and 
cannot  get  a  grain ;  to-morrow  of  another  who  sits  with  boots,  like 
those  of  Brian  O'Lum, 


'  With  the  woolly  side  out  and  the  skinny  side  in/ 

and  saturated  with  quicksilver,  swinging  in  the  stream  a  day, 
and  at  night  wrings  them  out,  and  finds  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  stuck  to  the  hair.  After  a  very  extensive  perusal  of  all  the 
testimony  which  has  appeared  in  the  letters  of  Fraser  River  cor- 
respondents to  the  newspapers  of  California  and  of  the  Atlantic 
cities,  and  a  somewhat  careful  consideration  of  its  weight  and  of 
the  intiluence  of  a  mania  in  helping  gold-finders  to  see  double, 
we  are  impelled  to  the  conclusion  that  gold  exists  hi  Fraser  River 
and  its  tributaries,  in  suflScient  quantities  to  make  it  an  object 
of  profitable  search  for  a  portion  of  the  year.  That  it  exists  in 
quantities  such  as  were  found  in  the  surface  diggings  of  early  Cali- 
fornia days,  we  do  not  believe ;  but  that  it  pays  better  for  ex- 
perienced miners  who  have  not  the  capital  to  buy  the  expensive 
quartz-crushing  machines  with  which  gold  is  obtained  in  Californiii, 
we  are  compelled  to  think. 


<6fii 


1858.] 


Fraser  Miver. 


337 


Reputed  discoveries,  and  the  geologic  structure  of  the  strip  of  ter- 
ritory west  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  range,  seem  to  indicate  beyond  a 
doubt  that  the  northern  boundary  of  British  Cohimbiaandthe  south- 
ern boundary  of  California  are  the  two  brackets  which  inclose  a  vast 
gold-producing  area  of  similar  if  not  of  equal  productiveness  in  all 
its  parts.  Tl.  •  correspondence  of  Governor  Douglass  with  the 
British  Colonial  Office  and  the  officers  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, submitted  to  the  House  of  Commons,  .hows  that  Governor 
Douglass,  although  he  had  been  informed  of  the  discovery  of  gold 
in  April,  1856,  has  not  up  to  this  date,  an  interval  of  more  than 
tAVO  years,  ascertained  how  much  gold  there  'S  in  the  mines,  and 
refrains  from  expressing  an  opiuion  even  more  cautiously  than  wc 
have  thought  proper  to  do.  To  the  British  Consul  at  San-Fran- 
cisco, however,  he  has  stated  that  the  mines  were  far  richer  than 
he  had  had  any  idea  of.  What  Governor  Douglass's  '  idea  of ' 
may  have  been,  we  are  not  informed.* 

In  February  last  the  Derby  ministry  came  into  power.  Sir  E. 
Bulwer  Lytton  having  the  office  of  Secretary  for  the  Colonies. 
Under  date  of  July  first,  he  communicated  to  Governor  Douglass 
a  general  approval  of  his  course  in  asserting  the  dominion  of  the 
Crown  over  this  region,  and  the  right  of  the  Crown  over  the  pi-e- 
cious  metals.  He  instructs  him,  however,  that  it  is  no  part  of  the 
policy  of  the  Government  to  exclude  Americans  or  other  foreigners 
from  the  gold-fields,  emphasized  the  necessity  of  caution  in  dealing 
with  the  international  questions  which  are  likely  to  arise,  and 
wherein  so  much  must  be  left  to  his  discretion. 

On  the  eighth  of  July  Sir  E.  Bulwer  Lytton  introduced  a  b'li 
for  the  formation  and  government  of  a  colony  in  this  district^  to 
be  called  New-Caledonia,  afterward  changed  to  British  Columbia, 
both  alike  misnomers.  The  bill,  which  passed  without  opposition, 
empowers  the  Crown  for  a  period  limited  to  five  years,  to  make 

♦  Difficulties  of  a  serions  nature  have  been  anticipated  with  the  native  Indians  of  British  Co- 
lumbia. One  year  ago  Governor  Douolabs  wrote  to  Mr.  Labol-uiiehis,  the  then  Secretary  of  tlif 
Colonic",  that  they  had  'taken  the  high-handed  though  probably  not  unwise  cnurse,  of  expelling 
all  the  parties  of  gold-diggers,  composed  olilelly  of  persons  from  the  American  territories,  who 
had  forced  an  entrance  Into  their  country.'  The  lludson's  Bay  Company  did  not  oppose  the 
Indians  In  this  matter,  but  allowed  their  servants  and  the  early  diggers  to  be  hustled  out,  and  tn 
lose  the  reward  of  their  labors  many  times.  During  the  year  some  few  difflculltcs  have  occurred, 
and  there  has  been  blood  shed ;  but  whether  because  of  the  discreet  conduct  of  the  inlr  ^rs  or  the 
niitlvo  perception  of  their  own  permanent  Inferiority,  in  view  of  such  an  influx  of  a  m  jr  ■  power- 
ful race,  the  collisions  have  not  been  so  frequent  or  disastrous  as  were  anticipated.  It  is  clear  that 
In  a  flgtit  between  the  minors  and  the  Indians,  however  successful  the  latter  mhht  bo  at  first.  In 
the  long  ri'n  the  former  would  win,  and  eventually  the  procoea  of  extermination  of  a  once  pow- 
erful race,  begin  and  go  on  to  a  rapid  end. 

It  appears  from  the  commonly  received  authorities,  that  the  indlans  of  British  Columbia,  like 
those  of  Washington  and  Oregon  Territories,  aro  fierce  and  Intractable;  civilized  to  the  extent  of 
clearly  comprehending  the  distinction  between  ■meum  and  tuum ;  willing  to  steal,  yet  an.xlous  to 
prevent  theft  of  their  gold;  active,  brave,  well-formed,  «nd  skilful  in  tlio  use  of  weapons,  of 
whle.Ii  thev  have  a  good  supply.  Their  principal  article  of  food  is  salmon.  In  summer  they  live 
In  shanties  of  slabs,  and  In  winter.  In  holes  In  the  ground,  covered  with  slabs  and  dirt.  Their  min- 
ing Is  rude  and  Intermittent  The  Indians  in  Puget's  Sound  (Chenooks)  are  said  to  bo  an  inferior 
race.  Those  up  tlie  river  are  the  inost  elev8te<l.  The  latter  demand  chastity  of  their  women, 
build  forts  large  enough  to  hold  six  or  seven  hundred  families,  and  canoes  that  will  hold  a  hu'idrad 
persons.  They  use  little  paint  and  no  tattoo.  There  are  two  principal  tribes,  and  these  hate  each 
other  as  badly  as  Coopkh's  Dclawares  and  Hurons.  The  number  of  Indians  In  British  Columbia 
it  is  impossll)le  to  compute.  Excepting  the  few  factors  of  the  lludson's  Bay  Company,  they  have 
been  tlie  only  Inliabltants.  The  liihabiuintfi  of  Washington  and  Oregon  Territories  number  about 
89,T12.    There  aro  nearly  as  many  to  the  square  mile  In  the  more  northern  territory. 


338 


Fraser  River. 


[October, 


laws  for  the  district  by  order  in  council  and  to  establish  a  legisla- 
ture ;  such  legislature  to  be  in  the  first  instance  the  governor  alone, 
but  with  power  to  the  Crown  by  itself,  or  through  the  Governor, 
to  establish  a  nominated  council  and  a  representative  assembly. 
We  do  not  exaggerate  in  the  least  when  we  say  that  the  recent 
debate  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  this  bill  shows  the  present  crisis 
to  be  regarded  as  one  of  great  interest. 

The  gold  of  Australia  was  the  magnet  that  drew  surplus  thou- 
sands from  England  and  peopled  her  largest  colony.  The  gold 
iu  California  drew  an  emigration  thither  which  has  created  our 
Pacific  States.  The  gold  of  Fraser  River,  be  it  much  or  little,  has 
drawn  the  attention  of  the  world  to  the  unexampled  richness  of 
the  north-western  areas  of  this  continent,  and  given  already  a 
stupendous  impulse  to  their  settlement. 

Vancouver's  Island,  from  a  hitherto  insignificant  existence  upon 
maps,  looms  up  in  a  not  distant  future  to  the  proportions  of  a  Bri- 
tish naval  station,  whose  arms  may  stretch  across  the  seas  yet,  and 
grasp  a  portion  of  the  swelling  trade  with  China  and  Japan,  the 
Indian  Archipelago  and  Austro,lia.  British  Columbia,  hitherto 
considered  an  inaccessible  and  remote  region  of  wild  territory, 
given  over  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  trade,  selfish  and 
exclusive,  and  to  Canadian  jurisdiction,  which  was  no  jurisdiction 
at  all,  feels  the  same  impulse,  and  groAVS  into  the  last  link  of  a 
chain  of  British  States,  or  perhaps  of  another  united  confederation 
like  our  own,  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  seas. 

These  will  not  be  the  results  of  a  year,  perhaps  not  of  a  decade, 
perhaps  not  of  scores  of  years.  But  if  we  consider  that  the  popu- 
latio'x  of  the  United  States  has  grown  in  fifty  years,  from  five 
and  a  half  to  thirty  millions,  and  the  jjopulation  of  the  Canadas 
from  raich  less  than  two  hundred  thousand  to  over  two  millions, 
it  requires  less  than  the  foresight  of  these  British  statesmen  to  see 
that  on  events  which  now  seem  local  and  confined,  imperial  issues 
wait,  though  the/  are  now  but  dimly  foreshadowed. 

Here  is  the  great  fact  of  the  north-western  areas  of  this  conti- 
nent. An  area  not  inferior  in  size  to  the  whole  United  States  east 
of  the  Mississippi,  which  is  jjcrfectly  adai)ted  to  the  fullest  occu- 
pation by  cultivated  nations,  yet  is  almost  wholly  unoccupied,  lies 
west  of  the  ninety-eighth  meridian  and  above  the  forty-tliird  par- 
allel, that  is,  north  of  the  latitude  of  Milwaukie,  and  west  of  the 
longitude  of  Red  Rivei*,  Fort  Kearney,  and  Corpus  Christi.  Or, 
to  state  the  fact  in  another  way,  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
west  of  the  ninety-eighth  meridian,  and  between  the  fortieth  and 
sixtieth  parallels,  there  is  a  productive,  cultivable  area  of  five 
hundred  thousand  square  miles.  West  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  between  the  same  parallels,  th<ire  is  an  area  of  three  hundred 
thousand  square  miles. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  temperature  of  the 
Atlantic  coast  is  carried  straight  ai"0ss  the  continent  to  the 
Pacific.    The  isothermals  deflect  greatly  to  the  north,  and  the 


'     f 


1858.] 


Fraser  Elver. 


339 


temperatures  of  the  Northern  Pacific  areas  are  paralleled  in  the 
high  temperatures  in  high  latitudes  of  Western  and  Central 
Europe.  The  latitudes  which  inclose  the  plateaus  of  the  Missouri 
and  the  Saskatchewan,  in  Euro))e  inclose  the  rich  central  plains  of 
the  continent.  The  great  grain-growing  dist  icts  of  Russia  lie 
between  the  forty-firth  and  sixti(!th  parallel,  that  is,  north  of  the 
latitude  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  or  Eastport,  Maine.  Indeed,  the 
tempei-ature  in  some  instances  is  higher  for  the  same  latitudes 
here  than  in  Central  Europe.  The  isothermal  of  70'  for  the  sum- 
mer wliich  on  our  plateaux  ranges  from  along  latitude  50°  to  52°, 
m  Europe  skirts  through  Vienna  and  Odessa  in  about  parallel  46°. 
The  isothermal  of  50°  for  the  year  runs  along  the  coast  of  British 
Columbia,  and  does  not  go  far  from  New- York,  London,  and  Se- 
bastopol.  Furthormoro,  dry  areas  are  not  found  above  47°,  and 
there  are  no  barren  tracts  of  consequence  north  of  the  Bad  Lands 
and  the  cot  ix  of  the  Missouri :  the  land  grows  grain  finely  and 
is  well  wooded.  All  the  grains  of  the  temperate  districts  are  here 
produced  abundantly,  and  Indian  corn  may  be  grown  as  high  as 
the  Saskatchewan. 

The  buffalo  winter  as  safely  c  a  the  Upper  Athabasca  as  in  the 
latitude  of  St.  Paul's,  and  the  spi  ing  opens  at  nearly  the  same  time 
along  the  immense  line  of  plains  from  St.  Paul's  to  3Iackonzie's 
River.  To  these  facts,  for  which  there  is  the  authority  of  Blodg- 
ett's  Treatise  on  the  Climatology  of  the  United  States,  may  be 
added  this,  that  to  the  region  bordering  the  Northern  Pacific  the 
finest  maritime  positions  belong  thi'oughout  its  entire  extent,  and 
no  part  of  the  west  of  Europe  rxceeds  it  in  the  advantages  of 
equable  climate,  fertile  soil,  and  commercial  accessibility  of  coast. 
We  have  the  same  excellent  authority  for  the  statement  t^'i*,  in 
every  condition  forming  the  basis  of  national  wealth,  the  conti- 
nental mass  lying  westward  and  north-westward  from  Lake  Supe- 
rior is  tar  more  valuable  than  the  interior  in  lower  latitudes,  of 
which  Salt  Lake  and  upper  New-Mexico  are  the  prominent  known 
districts.  In  short,  its  commercial  and  industrial  capacity  is 
gigantic*  Its  occuj)ation  was  coeval  with  the  Spanish  occupation 
of  New-Mexico  and  California.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
has  preserved  it  an  utter  wilderness  for  many  long  years.  The 
Fraser  River  discoveries  and  emigration  are  facts  which  the  Com- 
pany cannot  crush.  Itself  must  go  the  wall,  and  now  the  popula- 
tion of  the  great  north-western  areas  begins. 

Another  effect  of  the  Eraser  River  discoveries  is  their  deter- 
mination of  the  route  for  the  great  Pacific-Railroad.  In  view  of 
tl  J  ..tcts  which  we  have  just  stated,  it  becomes  clear  that  if  the 
population  of  the  United  States  wore  evenly  distributed  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  great  lakes,  the  existence  of  these  north- 


♦  Tub  London  Timet  has  floroftly  controverted  those  facts  rcj^ardlng  the  vahio  of  tho  nortb- 
we-starn  areas,  but  as  there  Is  evldenlly  no  Intention  to  set  at  tho  truth  of  tho  case,  and  as  Its  con- 
duct Is  prompted  by  Intfrofltod  inotlveg,  no  notice  need  be  taken  here  of  Its  arguments.  In  books 
written  by  the  very  offlcers  of  tho  Company,  upon  wlioao  statoments  alone  the  Times  can  found 
its  arguments,  will  be  found  their  fullest  conlraJictlun. 


mamam 


340 


Fraser  River. 


[October, 


western  areas  would  draw  the  lines  of  travel  to  the  Pacific  sensi- 
bly to  the  north.  But  the  northern  States  are  by  far  the  most 
densely  populated.  The  centre  of  popiilation  is  west  of  Pittsburj.-;!!, 
of  productive  power  to  the  east  and  north  of  that  city.  The 
movement  of  these  centres  is  slowly  to  the  west  and  to  the  north 
of  west.  At  our  present  rate  of  increase,  in  less  than  fifty  years 
they  will  be  near  Chicago.  Their  line  of  direction  indicates  the 
track  of  westward  empire  and  the  general  route  along  which  vil- 
lages, towns,  and  cities  will  arise,  and  therefore  the  first  rail-road 
be  built  to  the  Pacific  coast. 

Beyond  and  above  all  possible  interferences  and  obstructions  of 
political  or  sectional  zeal,  beyond  human  control  these  great  move- 
ments of  nations  and  peoples  go  on,  without  their  foresight,  and 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  earlier  generations,  i  ^t  working  out 
in  beautiful  order,  and  as  if  with  universal  consent  and  the  con- 
sjnracy  of  all  the  secret  forces  of  nature,  their  grand  and  best 
results. 

If  we  now  rcn.U  in  this  connection  the  precise  position  of  the 
Mauvaises  Terres,  and  the  rainless,  sandy,  and  uninhabitable  areas 
of  the  continent ;  the  nature  and  location  of  the  mountain  chains, 
exclusive  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  range,  extending  from  latitude 
47°  to  33",  headed  at  the  south  by  the  Gila  River,  on  whose  south- 
ern side  are  the  arid,  uncultivable  tracts  of  Sonora,  and  headed  at 
the  north  by  the  Missouri  River,  on  whose  northern  side  lie  these 
vast  cultivable  and  inhabitable  areas ;  if  we  recall  the  remarka- 
ble deflection  to  the  westward  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  range  m 
this  latitude  ;  if  we  recall  also  the  course  of  that  gigantic  stream, 
which  is  far  greater  than  the  river  to  which  by  a  mistaken  nomen- 
clature it  is  made  tributary,  a  stream  extending  to  the  very  base 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  in  the  region  where  they  are  lowest  and 
transit  is  easiest,  navigable  for  steamers  two  thousand  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  from  its  mouth,  and  for  smaller  vessels  almost 
within  sound  of  the  Great  Falls ;  if  we  recall  also  the  remarkable 
deflection  to  the  north  of  the  isothermal  lines  from  the  west  of 
Lake  Superior,  already  mentioned,  and  the  position  of  Columbia 
River,  and  remember  withal  that  the  first  and  the  great  routes  of 
travel  are  always  where  nature  has  scooped  out  valleys  for  the 
passage  of  great  rivers ;  if  we  combine  all  these  conceptions  with 
the  one  first  advanced,  of  the  direction  of  the  movement  of  the 
centres  of  population  and  industrial  activity,  there  remains  no 
room  to  doubt,  even  without  naming  the  north-western  areas, 
that  along  the  valley  of  the  Missouri,  over  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
in  the  low  passes  of  latitude  4*7",  and  thence  by  the  Columbia  and 
its  tributaries  to  the  Pacific,  or  through  the  passes  of  the  Cascade 
range  to  the  splendid  harbors  of  Puget  Sound,  lies  the  great 
route  to  the  Pacific,  the  belt  on  which  towns  and  villages  will  first 
arise,  the  strongest  link  in  the  union  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
States.  The  Fraser  River  discoveries  have  hastened  the  result, 
they  have  not  diverted  it. 


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